A couple of years ago I went to a local networking event. Instead of the usual mix and chitchat type, this one had a goal to help business owners solve particular issues they were having. People gathered around a table, each presented a problem he was dealing with at the time and the rest of the group pitched in ideas on how to solve it.
Although it has been some time now, I still remember some of the discussion. One of the issues presented at the meeting was: “how do I stop being used for information?”
This was an issue an owner of local travel agency was facing. Apparently people would come to her office, find out what the best deals on flights are and then book the tickets from home to avoid paying agency fees.
I could see her frustration over this – in her mind she was giving away free advice and was getting nothing in return.
I didn’t know nearly as much about inbound marketing back then as I do now. Thinking back about this, I don’t see this as a problem at all. If anything I believe it’s a good thing if people come in for information. It means they see you as an authority in your field and respect you enough to come ask for advice.
The question shouldn’t be “How to stop people from using me for information?”; the question should be “How can I provide free information to as many people as possible?”
By providing with valuable information free of charge, you not only help people out but you also build trust and respect by your potential clients. People are far more likely to spend money with someone who they trust or who helped them in the past. If you help your customers now, you are “paying it forward” for them to come back to you later.
Sure there will be a few tire kickers around who will just try to get all the free advice and go elsewhere in search of cheaper deal. But there will also be those, who will come back to you because they trust you and they want to spend money with you, even if you charge more than your competition.
There is also the whole SEO aspect to providing free information on your website. Every extra page that you publish on your site, every bit of information counts towards your web page ranking. On the web the content is the king and the more content you have, the better chance you have of ranking higher in search engines that your competitors.
So in short, please give away lots of free advice because providing free information:
- Increases your credibility.
- Helps to build trust by your customers.
- Encourages people to come to you later.
- Builds positive image for you and your brand.
- Helps building your brand awareness.
- Increases sales.
- Improves your website’s SEO and search engine rankings
I can speak for myself that this approach truly works. Usually if someone comes to me for an advice I try to help as much as possible, without worrying about the immediate cost. I found people usually come back when they are ready to move forward and get a website designed. It may take them six months to ring me back, but they usually do. And they tell their friends I did help them out so the message gets spread around, bringing more clients without doing costly advertising.
What’s your take? Do you give away free advice to your clients?
